Maricel Valera – Senior Business Process Associate

Hello! My name is Maricel. You can call me Atchel or Cel. I am a working mom and a mother of 3 children. I have 2 little boys and 1 girl. I am 43 years old. I graduated from the University of San Carlos with a degree of Bachelor of Science in Hotel and Restaurant Management.

My aim after I graduated in college was to have a job immediately because I got pregnant at the age of 21 and I was then a single mom. But it doesn’t work as it is, life is very tough. I had to look after with my daughter after my mom died.

So, in the year 2003, I started looking for a job because I wanted to provide for the needs of my child and I wanted to prove to my father that I could give a good life to my child even though my child’s father is not there for me. I applied to different companies. I don’t mind if it is not related to the course I finished.

My first job was in a Jewelry shop and I started as an appraiser, and cashier I was promoted to an acting Senior Appraiser or Branch Manager at the newly opened branch in Tacloban City. This is where I found my future husband. But the salary I am earning is not enough to provide the needs of my 1st child. During that time, the Call Center was very rampant and I heard they were receiving good pay out.

So, I attended a training in TESDA for a call center agent. Gladly after 3 weeks of intensive training, I was hired in one of the call center in Tacloban City. I remembered I always brought the rosary in my station and before I started my shift I always prayed that God would give me more patience because I always encountered irate customers. But God is really good, He sees my hard work and my dedication.

In September 2012, I was promoted as a Quality Analyst. I am so blessed because aside from getting the promotion, I was also pregnant but I had a miscarriage in November 2012. To backtrack, in January 2013 I got married. In October 2013 the company did a mass termination. And sadly, I was included. But I was not tagged as terminated, instead it was a redundancy.

So my husband and I decided to move to Cebu to look for better opportunities. I still continued working in a call center industry while my first child was left in Leyte to her grandparents. I worked in The Results Companies from January 2014 to February 2015 as a call center agent and luckily, I was promoted again as a Compliance Auditor. It was tough then because my husband had no job while we were in Cebu and both of us are aiming to have a baby.

I decided to look for a dayshift job and that is the time I got into the insurance industry as a Bancassurance Sales officer in Sunlife Grepa. I was doing good sales in the first four months and I was able to hit the required sales. But for the following months, I was not getting the sales and I was only receiving the basic pay. So when I heard the Manulife company was hiring, I immediately applied for a Business Process Associate. But while waiting for the hiring process for 2months, I temporarily worked as an ESL teacher.

To make the story short, yes I was hired in Manulife as a Business Process associate in November 2015 until I became an Application Coordinator and my husband got his job in the government under the Philippine Coconut Authority, And we were blessed with 2 little boys. But as years passed, things changed especially during the pandemic. There were a lot of things to consider. So, we decided to move to Bogo where the assigned area of my husband’s work was. I also started working onsite with Manulife in May 2022.

During my work on-site, I left my 2 kiddos to our yaya and my husband was out for a whole day for his fieldwork. I travelled 3 hours from Bogo to Lapu-lapu every time I was scheduled for work on-site. In addition to that, we started our small business which is our mini store. With planning and decision making, my husband and I decided agreed that I resign from Manulife and look for a permanent work-from-home job. The reason for this is to have a work-life balance. That I can still look after my children and our business. At the same time, I want to have career growth and I want to upscale my skills. Because I have been an Application Coordinator for 8 years and it seems I am stagnant with my current position.

But still, I am always grateful with Manulife. They helped me feed my family and provide the needs and wants of my children. With all due respect, the work adventures, opportunities, training and skills they provided to me, I will always apply these to the company that I will be working soon. And I am excited and hopeful for better opportunities and to grow further with my career.

For a copy of Maricel’s resume please click here.